The Human Stain

Recently I enjoyed a beautiful hike in a state park that was quite raw in the sense that fallen trees had not been cleared away (for the most part) and we did not see a single soul over the course of two hours.

And yet there were some visually arresting moments…of the bad kind:

HumanStain.3

Upon seeing garbage in the middle of otherwise pristine woods, I was reminded of The Human Stain, a novel by Philip Roth.The Human Stain

The books is an exposition of the ugliness of humankind and ends with a vivid description of a frozen lake and the way in which it was formed over thousands of years, juxtaposed with the image of a nefarious man ice-fishing in the middle of this lake (the human stain on nature, in other words).

HumanStain.1

I am not anti-human at all and on the contrary feel that humankind is something to be celebrated despite all its flaws. However, I do understand the disgust that fueled Roth’s narrative and I felt the same disgust upon seeing trash in the forest.

What do people think and feel when they visit a place and then leave their garbage behind to rot?  Perhaps it is a moment of childish rebellion.  Or perhaps, even worse, it is devoid of any thought or intention at all — literally mindless.

What a depressing notion, and not one I relate to at all.

HumanStain.2

Fixing unfinished older experiments.2

Here is another older painting that I’ve resurrected after abandoning it (in this case, I ruined it by getting too carried away with something that worked well for me in another painting).

As you can see on the right, I got crazy with paint splatter and overall created a mess, including some blotches around the eyes and face that really robbed the image of its continuity. The image on the left reflects my clean-up, with white paint, but also removal of color using water. Yes, the paper in this case is again the “wrong” kind — it is not ideal for water color, but interestingly I like some of the effects I get with it versus the expensive “correct” kind.

Hendrix.Vinchesi.Fixing older work.April 2019

As with most of my work, this is not yet a finished piece (I really need to commit to finishing several of these works in progress).

But I wanted to share a promising “fix / save” of a previous mistake.

Golf Landscape

In honor of the Masters golf tournament, here is a putting green landscape I did in late 2018 (still need to fill in the flag but here it is).

Putting green and landscape.Vinchesi.2018

For those who follow golf, or Tiger Woods (or both), he won today after an 11-year drought of winning major tournaments, and the joy for him was palpable.

I was moved by his win in particular because it represents a human being’s occasional ability to overcome inner demons (in this case, to win again after the humiliation of his train-wreck ending of his marriage 11 years ago).

Prior to his 2008 personal and then professional meltdown, he only knew victory, and displayed a towering arrogance that often accompanies those who win early and remain invincible. But after his then-wife discovered his multiple affairs (and crass text messages to several women) and chased him down his driveway, smashing the rear window of his car (with a golf club…), he began a downward spiral and the Great Humbling began.

There is something profound about sports stars who have famous collapses that then seem to haunt them in future contests (Greg Norman comes to mind — he was leading the Masters several different times and yet gave-away victory on the final afternoon each time; he won the British Open several times, and so at least buried the “never won a major” moniker).

The power of the mind to be haunted by the past is very real and it is inspiring when anyone succeeds in breaking those chains.

Congratulations Tiger Woods, it is heartening to see you free yourself.

“Shall I bring my own chains?

“We always do.”

IHeartHuckabees

From I Heart Huckabees, a truly extraordinary movie.

Where do I get prints made?

Ok, it’s time for me to indulge myself with some reproductions of a few paintings I like even though I am a nobody in the art world. I have been inspired recently by other amateur artists who are selling their work online and elsewhere, so why not?

And so I am looking into local printers who can take high-resolution shots of my work, reproduce colors accurately, and then do a print run of a dozen or more of each, on archival paper for resale.

Any advice would be appreciated!! Let me know your “do’s and don’ts”!!